Atikokan, Ontario
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| Township of Atikokan, Ontario | |
| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Province | Ontario |
| District | Rainy River |
| Settled | 1899 |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Dave Canfield |
| Area | |
| - Land | 316.75 km² (122.3 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| - Township | 3,293 |
| - Density | 10.4/km² (26.9/sq mi) |
| Postal code | P0T 1C0 |
| Area code(s) | 807 |
| Website: Township of Atikokan | |
Atikokan (2006 population 3,293) is a township in Rainy River District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada.
Atikokan is served by one high school and two elementary schools. The local weekly paper is the Atikokan Progress.
Atikokan is now known primarily for its beautiful canoe routes and proximity to hunting and fishing locations. It is locally known as The Canoeing Capital of Canada.
Atikokan is one of the main points of entry into wilderness canoeing destination Quetico Provincial Park.
Contents |
[edit] History
Atikokan (Ojibway for "Caribou Bones"), was founded over 100 years ago. A small town in Northern Ontario whose main sources of employment are an Ontario Power Generation thermal power plant about 20 km outside of town and two forest product mills, Fibratech and Atikokan Forest Products (Located 30 km east at Sapawe).
Atikokan was originally established primarily as a rail stop for the Canadian National Railway. Before the 2nd World War, however, mineral exploration in the area determined the presence of a large, high grade, iron ore deposit at the bottom of Steep Rock Lake. After the war a large water diversion project on the Seine River system was undertaken to enable the draining and dredging of Steep Rock lake in order to develop open pit mining operations.
Two large mines (Steep Rock Iron Mines and Caland Ore Co.) commenced operations in the late-1950s and continued for more than 30 years. When the mines closed in the early-1980s the town of Atikokan suffered economically but continued to survive on other, natural resource based industries as well as tourism.
One interesting local project was the development of a 10MW hydroelectric generating station (Valerie Falls Power) on the same Seine River diversion that facilitated the opening of the mines 40 years earlier.
The original settlers to the Atikokan area were the “Oschekamega Wenenewak”, which mean “The people of the cross ridges”. They lived by themselves until 1688, when the first white man, Jacques de Noyon. He got there by following the chain of Kaministiquia, Dog, Lac des Mille Lacs, Baril, Windigoostiqwan, French and Pickerel lakes, after which he arrived in Rainy Lake. This turned out to be a critical journey for the expansion and exploration in the Atikokan area. However, for the Native Americans already inhabiting the area, it would turn out to be a bad thing. Within the short span of just 200 years, the population of the Natives was almost cut in half, the two main causes being diseases brought from the white man, and their mortal enemy, the Sioux. Another major blow to the Natives also happened around this time, the Caribou, one of their main food sources this happened because of lackadaisical care by the white man’s fire, and when the fires came, they burnt all the moss, which was the Caribou’s main food source.
Palliser Gladman-Hind suggested the first real road in this area, and it was supposed to go from Arrow Lake (west of Thunder Bay) to as far as it could go, then take a waterway to Fort Frances. Simon Dawson, on the other hand, thought the road could go from Dog Lake, to Thunder Bay, then using a series of dams, would allow even the larger boats to along the route of Dog River, Savanne River, Lac des Mille Lacs, via Pickerel and Sturgeon Lake.
The government seemed to ignore both of their plans and decided to go west of Lac de Milles Lac, then down the Seine River and finally down into Rainy Lake. In 1859, the government hired Simon Dawson to start making the route, but they were held up a few months due to bad economic conditions in the East. Then in 1867, after Confederation, there became an increased need for communication to the West, so the progress was hurried up. Construction of Dawson Trail started from Prince Arthur’s Landing in 1868. Then, in 1869, with the formation of the Riel Rebellion, and the construction was sped up again as the need to transport troops was required.
The potential for Steep Rock as being a iron mine was revealed in 1897 by a non-resident geologist named William McInnis. Nothing was done to it until the winter of 1929-1930, when Julian Cross started interviewing iron and steel companies to try to unlock Steep Rock’s potential. He finally convinced a company from Duluth led by Robert Whiteside to take the job. They say one of the main reasons Cross was able to convince them to do it was because he had two of the biggest names in the mining industry at the time, Joseph Errington and Donald M. Hogarth.
The first residents of Atikokan were Tom Rawn and his wife in 1899, and they arrived by canoe. Tom was lured here by the allure of there being gold in the area. Before he and his wife moved here, he operated the Mine Centre Motel, and within a year of being here he had built the Pioneer Hotel. The hotel had 18 rooms on the second story. The other reason he moved here is because he heard the Canadian National Railway was going to put the Divisional Point here.
In 1900, he was the first to strike a claim for iron ore in the Steep Rock area. In 1932, with Dr. McKenzie, they staked out the entire South East bay of Steep Rock. They then found a spot, sunk a shaft and found it rich with high grade hematite. The problem was they couldn't keep water out of the shaft, so they quickly abandoned it. In 1940, Tom sold 109 claims that were located West of Steep Rock to Midwest Iron Mining Corporation. Then, in March of 1945, with 60 claims to his name, he created Rawn Iron Mines Ltd. That however, was one of the last things he did, as on July 23 of the same year, he went out prospecting by Sapawe and never returned. Search parties searched for weeks, but nobody could find any of his remains.
Palliser Gladman-Hind suggested the first real road in this area, and it was supposed to go from Arrow Lake (west of Thunder Bay) to as far as it could go, then take a waterway to Fort Frances. Simon Dawson, on the other hand, thought the road could go from Dog Lake, to Thunder Bay, then using a series of dams, would allow even the larger boats to along the route of Dog River, Savanne River, Lac des Mille Lacs, via Pickerel and Sturgeon Lake.
The government seemed to ignore both of their plans and decided to go west of Lac de Milles Lac, then down the Seine River and finally down into Rainy Lake. In 1859, the government hired Simon Dawson to start making the route, but they were held up a few months due to bad economic conditions in the East. Then in 1867, after Confederation, there became an increased need for communication to the West, so the progress was hurried up. Construction of Dawson Trail started from Prince Arthur’s Landing in 1868. Then, in 1869, with the formation of the Riel Rebellion, and the construction was sped up again as the need to transport troops was required.
The train ride, once built, cost $15. The train ride was very bumpy, and not a very good experience. This discomfort was due to the rutty roads,
There was great potential for logging (red and white pine) on a strip between Lac La Croix and French Lake. However, the barren shores around Saganaga show that there were many fires there. There were also lots of fires on the 40 odd lakes H.C. Smith studied. Fires destroyed about one sixth of the total area. These forest fires were usually caused by carelessness of troops that passed through the area years before on the Dawson Trail. Smith describes the aftermath as “ gigantic, half burned dead pines, which, towering the in air, add so much to the wildness and desolation of the scene” and “too often caused by the carelessness of explorers, prospectors, and hunters; The Indians are very careful to extinguish their fires during the dry season” ; “it is regretted that the fatal carelessness of the others cannot be checked”. He says the pine in the unburnt area is excellent. The best trees he said were found on Trout, Darkey, Brent and the farthest Southeast end of Sturgeon.
Timber was starting to get noticed as early as 1886 in this area. There was a total of 31 surveys with 21 being in the park and 10 were in the area that’s now Clearwater and White Otter Castle. The first attempt at taking timber from this area was in the 1870’s. It was a sawmill located on the height of the land east of the French Portage.
The boom of the fur trade started after the explorations of de Noyon in 1688, de la Noue in 1717 and La Verendrye in 1731. The first English trading post was built on the shores of Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake. The first French post however was on Grand Portage. By 1741, the French fur trading posts had extended as far west as Saskatchewan, and were actually competing with the much larger Hudson Bay Company.
However, just as it looked like the French may turn out to be the larger company, Quebec collapsed, and the French trade disappeared with it. This caused an explosion in the number of independent traders, and the trade got extremely violent. Some traders even succumbed to murder as a way for them to be the most profitable fur trader. However, in 1779, the independent’s put aside their differences to form a union of traders which would be called the North West Company in order to compete with the much larger Hudson Bay Company. The North West Company made Grand Portage (the French’s old headquarters) their headquarters, and using a route the skimmed the border, were able to compete with the Hudson Bay Company for the fur.
In 1937, when Julian Cross discovered ore, it seemed like Atikokan had some potential at becoming a real town. The first real showing however was the fact that they built The Canadian Imperial Bank Of Commerce on Clark Street. Pitt Construction arrived a little later to make roads. This new way of making roads by using machines amazed the old-timers who were used to making them using a pick, shovel and a wheelbarrow. In 1950, the population had grown to 3,000 people. The current population is about 3,500.
The first business in Atikokan could buy lots on Main Street for only $10 a acre, then the prices skyrocketed to $100 a foot! Even with the high costs, stores, restaurants, banks etc, sprang up very quickly. The first bank in town was The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. The second bank to open was the Toronto-Dominion, then a third option quickly sprang up, The Royal Bank of Canada.
[edit] Local media
[edit] Newspapers
- Atikokan Progress
[edit] Radio
[edit] Television
[edit] External links
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